Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Where Is Your Bookmark? (06/03/2014)

Both my husband and I have a busy week at work ahead of us, both are scheduled to work overtime at varying times throughout the week. This will be the first time ever my daughter, and I have not seen each other awake for an entire day. While many parents have left their young ones to go on overnight trips many times over by the time their child reaches Mouse's age, I have yet to. So, there's some anxiety there. I'm not even leaving her overnight, for goodness sake! I will just be leaving the house before we wakes and coming home after she is asleep. Easy peasy, right? It will go well. I will survive. So will Mouse. And at the end of the week, we will enjoy birthday cake in celebration of my husband's birthday.

As for reading, I indulged in a little paranormal romance this past week, finishing Carla Susan Smith's A Vampire's Promise and A Vampire's Soul. I enjoyed both (more than I thought I would, actually). You can guess the novels involved a vampire. I am now reading a more serious book called Losing Touch by Sandra Hunter, about an Indian family living in London during the mid-1960's through the 1970's. I am already invested in the lives the of the characters, not sure what I think of Arjun. One minute I find myself empathizing with him and then the next, I don't like him very much. The novel deal with familial conflicts, debilitating health concerns, as well as cultural issues. So far, I am enjoying the book.

What are you reading at the moment? Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Here is the opening paragraphs from my current read, Losing Touch by Sandra Hunter:

The viewing of the body has started. Arjun breathes in cold chapel air, looks around at his family, the Kulkanis, and friends of Kulkanis, and those married to Kulkanis. The family is large and loud and quarrelsome, but today they are a subdued queue, forming in front of the coffin. Jonti: beloved younger brother; quick-witted answers that found him an architect's job in London, but not quick enough to outpace the disease that took him at thirty-two. Five years younger than Arjun. It is wrong.

An overripe west London September presses damp, sticky heat into the small chapel. Even so, Arjun's hands are cold. is wife, Sunila, sits beside him wearing dark glasses; his son, Murad, is scowling and his daughter, Tarani - what convinced her to wear purple?

Would you continue reading?

© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Sunday, June 01, 2014

From the Archives: Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

I began keeping a reading journal several years before I began blogging. I find it interesting to sift through my thoughts of books that I read back then. My reviews were often brief and contained little substance, but I thought it'd be fun to document them here on my blog as well as share them with you. Here is one from September of 2005:

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Anchor Books, 2000

Fiction; 274 pgs

The novel, Bee Season, did not captivate me from the very beginning as I had hoped, although it was interesting enough to keep going. A young girl surprises everyone when she wins the school spelling bee, having always been thought of as mediocre. As the story unfolds, readers are introduced to her family: an eccentric mother who appears to be a workaholic, a teenage brother who is questioning his faith, and a father who wants his children to be the best in achieving his own dreams for them. As I neared the end of the book, the pieces began to come together more clearly and the story intrigued me more. It became harder to put down. Eliza, the ten-year-old heroine of the novel, is endearing in her innocence and desire to please and help her family.

I liked the different perspectives offered by the author of the various family members and the way she always brought the focus back to Eliza. This is not so much the story about Eliza as it is about the Naumann family as they discover themselves and each other. The ending was very well done; however, upon reflection, I find myself wondering about elements of the book that remain fuzzy, as if the pieces weren’t all brought together to provide answers that might have better solidified the story being told. Bee Season was a moving novel that touched my heart in the end. I will definitely be looking for the author’s next novel.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Bookish Thoughts: The Good House by Ann Leary

I can walk through a house once and know more about its occupants than a psychiatrist could after a year of sessions. ~ First Sentence of The Good House

The Good House by Ann Leary

St. Martin's Press, 2013

Fiction; 292 pgs

From the Publisher:

Ann Leary's The Good House tells the story of Hildy Good, who lives in a small town on Boston’s North Shore. Hildy is a successful real-estate broker, good neighbor, mother, and grandmother. She’s also a raging alcoholic. Hildy’s family held an intervention for her about a year before this story takes place—“if they invite you over for dinner, and it’s not a major holiday,” she advises “run for your life” — and now she feels lonely and unjustly persecuted. She has also fooled herself into thinking that moderation is the key to her drinking problem.

Where to begin? Should I tell you how much I liked this book? I thought the author, Ann Leary, did an amazing job in capturing Hildy's voice and letting the reader experience exactly what Hildy was going through as the novel went on--without having to tell the reader directly. For the writing alone, I give this book an A+.

On a more personal note, I found an eerie similarity between Hildy's character and my father, both in attitude, rationalizations, and drinking problem. As a result, this book touched close to home. Instead of dredging up old memories and feeling overly emotional, however, I found myself laughing out loud (and wondering if I was a bad person for doing so) and at the same time feeling sad for Hildy. Sad at how alone she was. Sad she was unable to recognize the seriousness of her drinking problem. And sad for how out of control her life was even despite her attempts at trying to control it. I admit I sat on the edge of my seat for most of this book, knowing, just knowing, something bad was going to happen. While this book isn't one I would label a thriller, it certainly has some of the elements of a thriller in terms of suspense. Or maybe that was just me.

The reader learns more about Hildy and why she turned to alcohol to numb her troubles over the course of the novel, from the death of her mother to her divorce to recent events. Hildy is a private business woman, a realtor, competing in a corporate world, where even the business of real estate has become a big box store kind of business. I was glad the author addressed that issue, as I think it is a reality many face today. It's yet another stressor in her life that Hildy tries hard to fight against and cope with.

Hildy is an unreliable narrator to be sure. Written in first person, the reader is inside Hildy's head, only able to see and hear her own thoughts about those around her. Hildy shows great insight at times, but at others a total lack there of. I think, however, we get a good feel for the town and the people in Hildy's life in what Hildy shares with us--and what she doesn't. Hildy is the gatekeeper of secrets, it would seem, and boy, does she know some juicy ones!

Some of the major players in the novel, other than Hildy, is her newest friend Rebecca, an unhappy wife and mother, who is fairly new to town. Rebecca is the first person Hildy feels she can be real with, even when it comes to her continued drinking, which everyone thinks she's given up. Rebecca has her own problems, of course, including having fallen in love with the local psychiatrist. Then there is Peter, the psychiatrist, who I never quite got a good handle on. Oh, and Frank. I really liked Frank. And I hated the way Hildy treated him at times. He and she had been an item in her late teen years, before Hildy went off to college and got married.

As with Hildy and her struggle to stay afloat business wise, the author delves into life in a small rather wealthy town, in which old and new money mix, where life time residents and newbies find a way to co-exist. There are interesting dynamics at play as a result. I was especially drawn to Cassie's family, and her son Jake who had special needs. They are clearly not a family of means, but they have long been in their home, and now need to find a way out in order for Jake to attend a better school in a different town. I confess I was not a big Hildy fan, but I did have a lot of respect for the efforts she made to help Cassie's family. Even if she told herself she was doing it for the sale, it showed a more compassionate side of Hildy that was too often lacking in her character.

The Good House was an interesting read on many levels. I went into the novel not really knowing what to expect, and what I found was an entertaining and thought provoking novel. There is an air of mystery about it, a building of tension that rivals the best thrillers, and psychological insights into the impact of secrets and alcohol abuse has on oneself and those around us. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Rating:

(Very Good +)

You can learn more about Ann Leary and her books on the author's website.

Source: I purchased the e-copy version of this book for my own reading pleasure.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Where Is Your Bookmark? (05/27/2014)

An interesting thing happened to me the other day. A couple weeks ago, I had purposefully picked up a romance novel with every intention of enjoying its predictability, including the guaranteed happy ending. I needed something to take my mind off my worries. And, for the most part, it did. Until I got to this one part where the female protagonist had a certain feeling, a thought even, and I not only burst into tears, but I found myself in an emotional place I hadn't expected to be. It was not the book's fault. It actually was the most innocent--and happy--of moments. That particular scene proved to be a completely unexpected trigger, right at the heart of what I was dealing with. Any other time in my life, that scene would not have had the same effect on me, I guarantee it. It was just in that moment, at that time.

Has that ever happened to you?

I admit I cry often when I read. I get teary-eyed watching certain commercials. This isn't new to anyone who knows me. It can be a sad or happy moment. It doesn't matter. I'm just the kind of gal who takes full advantage of my tear ducts. Rarely though does a book make me feel like I've been punched in the gut like that romance novel. Nonfiction books about dogs that die in the end do. I hate those types of books. It's why I have avoided reading Marley and Me. At least with those types of books though, I usually know what is to come, and I can prepare myself a little.

Now that I am a parent, I find books that touch on parent/child death to be triggers for me as well. I don't completely avoid such books, but I think twice about reading them--or at least make sure I am in the right mood for them. I know I am likely to feel more deeply than I might have before. I don't think there is anything wrong with this. It just is.

I am not sure really what I am trying to say, only that a book can touch us one way at a certain moment in our lives, and yet touch us differently in another--or even to a lesser degree.

Anyway, since I was unable to find total escape in a romance novel, I figured I might as well dive right into a book that was guaranteed to make me cry. I am in the middle of reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

What are you reading at the moment? Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I am currently spending time with Hazel and Augustus in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green:

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

Would you continue reading?

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Mouse's Corner: Cloth Books

My mother asked early on in Mouse's life if I thought she would like a few cloth books. My mother likes to sew and found patterns at her local fabric store for books for young children. Of course, I said yes. Books that are easy to wash and that you can't rip? Perfect!

Mouse has loved those books, whether it's to use them as pillows or flip through the pages. Two of her current favorites include The Three Little Pigs and The Rainbow Zebra. Both of the books are colorful and playful in their illustrations and fit with the story perfectly.

The Three Little Pigs is a familiar story: three pigs build houses, each one out of different materials. A hungry wolf threatens to blow each house down unless the resident pig lets him in. Knowing they'll likely get eaten if they do, they refuse. It's a story children love, and many adults too. Mouse really likes to retell this story, changing it up as she goes.

I especially like how the illustrator captured the wolf peeking in the window.

When Mouse took The Rainbow Zebra to school for show and tell, I received nothing but praise about the book. The story is not only one that appeals to children, one full of various types of animals, but it is also a book about trying to fit in and valuing the differences of others, including oneself. I confess it's one of my favorites too.